1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus or the like for generating an image to be printed on a medium based on managed data in the apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, what is called multifunction machines that combine a copier function, a fax function, a printer function, a scanner function, etc. have been put into the market as image forming apparatus. When the fax function is used among those functions, in many cases the destination of a fax transmission is one of a limited number of business connections. Therefore, usually, in image forming apparatus, fax numbers of business connections to which a fax transmission is made frequently are registered in advance so that the destination of each fax transmission can be designated by an easy manipulation.
Some machine types have a function (scan mail function) of transmitting document data read by the scanner function in such a manner that the data are attached to an e-mail. Also in this case, business connections to which e-mails are sent frequently are limited in number and hence it is a common procedure to register e-mail addresses of those business connections in advance.
As described above, in recent image forming apparatus, it is a common procedure to store fax numbers and/or e-mail addresses inside. However, fax numbers and e-mail addresses are a kind of personal information and hence should be managed carefully so as not to leak outside. In this connection, techniques for preventing leakage of important data managed inside an image forming apparatus have been proposed.
In particular, the social concern about the personal information has risen in recent years as exemplified by the enforcement of the Personal Information Protection Law. Therefore, it is now urgently required to manage, more strictly than before, personal information that is managed inside image forming apparatus and to take measures to prevent such information from leaking outside.